Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam has gotbetter connected with other countries in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS)thanks to a wide range of projects on transport infrastructure developmentconducted within this cooperation framework.
Vietnam is the only country in theGMS that has participated in all three economic corridors. They include the north-southcorridor that connects Vietnam with China, the east-west to link Thua Thien-Hueprovince and Da Nang city in the central region with Laos and all the way toThailand and Myanmar and finally the southern one bridging HCM City with PhnomPenh and Bangkok.
According to Vietnamese DeputyMinister of Transport Le Dinh Tho, with financial aid from sponsors, especiallythe Asian Development Bank (ADB), and concerted efforts, Vietnam has beencompleting works within these important connectivity corridors. Connecting withChina, Vietnam put the Kunming – Lao Cai – Hanoi – Hai Phong expressway intouse in December 2015.
Hanoi - Lao Cai expressway, the longest of its kind in Vietnam, was put into operation in September 2014 as part of the North – South Economic Corridor (NSEC)(Photo: VNA)
Notably, the Hanoi – Lao Cai expressway with a total length of 264 km and investmentof 1.2 billion USD sourced from the ADB was considered a strategic part of theKunming – Lao Cai – Hanoi – Hai Phong road corridor under the cooperationprogramme between the six GMS countries, namely Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia,Thailand, Myanmar and China.
The expressway, the longest of itskind in Vietnam, was put into operation in September 2014 as part of the North– South Economic Corridor (NSEC), helping reduce travel time between Hanoi andthe northern border province of Lao Cai from seven to three hours andfacilitating the transport of goods.
It is not only important to Vietnambut also the whole GMS region by changing the economic panorama of localities innorthern Vietnam and southern China through enhancing transport connectivity,trade exchanges, investment and tourism cooperation.
The Nanning – Lang Son – Hanoi – HaiPhong and Hai Phong – Ha Long – Van Don – Mong Cai – Pingxiang expressways areset to become operational before 2020.
The East-West Economic Corridor(EWEC) features Da Nang Port – Dong Ha (along National Road No.1) – Lao BaoInternational Border Gate – National Road No. 9 of Laos – Thailand – Dawai Portof Myanmar route with a total length of 1,450 km. This is an important corridorthat helps shorten road travel time from the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Oceanto three hours.
Another route in the east-west corridor running along National Road 217, fundedby the ADB, will be completed soon.
On the basis of the east-west corridor linking the Pacific Ocean and the IndianOcean, Vietnam and Laos have put forth an initiative to build another corridorfrom Myanmar to Laos via Thailand, running along Paksan (Laos) – Thanh Thuy InternationalBorder Gate – Vinh (Vietnam’s Nghe An province) section to Vung Ang Port in thecentral province of Ha Tinh. It is a branch of the Hanoi – Vientianeexpressway.
To connect with Cambodia, the Southern Economic Corridor (Southern Coastal Corridor- SCC) has been built with the ADB’s support. Vietnam and Cambodia have signedan agreement on accelerating the construction of the 180-km Ho Chi Minh City –Phnom Penh expressway. The route runs from Ho Chi Minh City through Cai Mep –Thi Vai Port to Phnom Penh and then to Thailand before joining the SCC.
Transportinfrastructure development a priority of Vietnam
Addressing a session oninfrastructure development and financing as part of the GMS Business Summit inHanoi on March 30, Vietnamese Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The saidinfrastructure plays an important role in socio-economic development of anation and infrastructure development is a priority of many developingcountries, including Vietnam.
Vietnamese Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The addresses a session on infrastructure development and financing as part of the GMS Business Summit in Hanoi on March 30. (Photo: VNA)
In recent years, the VietnameseGovernment has spent about 9-10 percent of its annual GDP on transport, energy,telecommunications and water infrastructure, he said.
However, the transport infrastructuresystem in Vietnam is still small in terms of scale with asynchronous connections.The country has only 756 kilometres of expressway while the railway system isout-of-date.
According to the minister, Vietnamplans to step up development of high-quality transport infrastructure to spur itssocio-economic growth. It will continuecompleting its expressway system. Between now and 2020, the country expects tofinish construction of about 654 kilometres out of 1,300 kilometres of the north-southexpressway in the form of public-private partnership (PPP).
It also considers the building of newroads and high-speed railways to get connected with ASEAN, GMS and trans-Asiaroad systems, while paying attention to airport development, including theconstruction of Long Thanh International Airport with annual capacity of 100million passengers and 5 million tonnes of cargo in the southern province ofDong Nai, The said.
He revealed that Vietnam needs anestimated 1,015 quadrillion VND (44.7 billion USD) in investment to developtransport infrastructure in the 2018-2023 period.
Of the total, 651 trillion VND is for road development, 119 trillion VND forrailways, 101 trillion VND for air transport, 68 trillion VND for sea routesand more than 33 trillion VND for inland waterways.
About 300 trillion VND (14 billion USD) is expected to come from non-budgetsources inside and outside the country, especially foreign investment.
Therefore, Vietnam calls on businesses, investors and development partners toinvest in developing transport infrastructure in Vietnam as well as other GMSnations, thus turning the GMS into a prosperous and developed sub-region, Thestressed.
Enhancing transport connectivity forprosperous GMS
Transport connectivity is a toppriority of the GMS Economic Cooperation Programme. At the time when theprogramme was launched, most of the sub-region’s infrastructure was in verypoor quality. In response to this, the GMS adopted the Transport Master Plan in1995, which identified priority transport links – mostly road projects –designed to generate the greatest and most immediate connectivity improvements.
Trucks pass the Lao Bao International Border Gate in central Quang Tri province, which borders Laos (Photo: VNA)
This was an important step in economic development, with improvements intransportation infrastructure boosting economic opportunities throughout the region,especially by reducing travel times and costs. As the countries have moved froma strategy of self-sufficiency to regional cooperation, major efforts have beenmade to develop infrastructure linking the GMS and beyond, particularly throughthe identification of economic corridor projects.
A GMS transport strategy for 2006-2015 was developed to build a seamless GMStransport network, connecting not only sub-regional nations but alsoneighbouring countries and regions.
Now, the GMS transport strategytowards 2030, with a vision of “seamless, efficient, reliable, and sustainableGMS transport system”, recommends expanding road and railway connections,focusing on multimodal transport development and integrating climate changeassessments into transport development projects.
The sub-region’s member nations have pledged to implement the GMS Cross-BorderTransport Facilitation Agreement (GMS-CBTA) to boost economic cooperation anddevelopment.
Turning the countries’ infrastructure into economic corridors, generating jobs,developing tourism and trade, creating cohesion in terms of interest andpromoting peace in the region are among the GMS’s goals.
“Infrastructure is the key of the GMSconnectivity, especially the inland connectivity. It is the trend of our sub-regionto enhance the inland connectivity,” Tak Sriratanobhas, a member of the ThaiChamber of Commerce and Board of Trade told the Vietnam News Agency on thesidelines of the GMS Business Summit, which took place in Hanoi on March 30 aspart of the sixth GMS Summit.
The key is turning infrastructure from transport corridors to economic corridors,meaning hardware and software infrastructure must combine, he said, adding thatthe hardware is the efficiency of roads linking the countries while thesoftware is how to go through the border easier, faster and cheaper.
“If we make the border crossing more efficient, faster and less costly, it isthe key to successfully turning the region into a real economic corridor,” henoted.
According to Chris Malone, Partner and Managing Director at the BostonConsulting Group, the GMS countries need to work together to have a win-winsolution so all of them benefit from further infrastructure connectivity andcontribute to economic development as well as the harmony of people in theMekong River.
Transport infrastructure developmentwill help optimise the supply chain of companies, reduce their costs and makethem more competitive, said Csaba Bundik, Vice Chairman of the Central andEastern European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam.
“A better linked infrastructure will make people’s life and companies’operation easier,” he noted.
The current trade among the GMScountries could double if there is better infrastructure in the region,according to Htun Zaw, Deputy Director General of the Foreign EconomicRelations Department under the Ministry of Planning and Finance of Myanmar.
“There is a huge opportunity to increase infrastructure connectivity in theregion but the real challenge is funds,” he said.
Meanwhile, Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Umeda Kunio said at the session oninfrastructure development and financing of the GMS Business Summit in Hanoi onMarch 30 that his government has put forth an initiative to promote qualityinfrastructure and made efforts to improve connectivity in the GMS region.
Delegates discuss GMS infrastructure development and financing (Photo: VNA)
As a partner of the GMS, Japan hasprovided support for fostering regional economic growth, contributing tonarrowing the development gap as well as boosting investment and trade throughinfrastructure projects.
Japan’s assistance not only covershard infrastructure such as expressways and bridges but also human resourcestraining and development of areas along the economic corridor, he said.
The ADB has for years been a major sponsor of the GMS. ADB President TakehikoNakao said his bank plans to provide 7 billion USD over the next five years fora range of projects supporting transportation, tourism, energy, climate changemitigation and adaptation, agribusiness value chains and urban development inthe sub-region.
The sub-region is expected to receive66 billion USD in investment to strengthen regional economic cooperation in thenext five years, Alfredo Perdiguero, Director of Regional Cooperation andOperations Coordination Division, Southeast Asia Department, told Vietnamesemedia.
The sum increased by 2 billion USDcompared to what ministers of the six member countries agreed in the actionplan framework for 2018-2022 late last year.
It will more than triple the total sumof 21 billion USD mobilised for the region since the GMS economic cooperationprogramme was first launched by the ADB in 1992.
Besides the ADB, the amount is also expected to be contributed by many otherpartners, together with the governments of the GMS countries, he noted.
The GMS cooperation was launched in1992 as an initiative of the ADB. The GMS Cooperation Programme is the mostcomplete cooperation programme that involves Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand,Myanmar, and China’s Yunnan and Guangxi provinces. The programme prioritisesinfrastructure development, energy, telecommunication, tourism,trade-investment, human resources, and environment.-VNA
